Which to use
“cochon” is a noun and “cochons” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,800
- “cochon” frequency rank
- #11,732
- “cochons” frequency rank
- 19532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cochon | cochons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mammifère domestique, ongulé de l’ordre des suidés ; porc. | Masculin pluriel de cochon. |
Same sound, different letters: cochon vs cochons
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. cochon runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cochons's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - cochon and cochons
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: cochon and cochons carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ.ʃɔ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cochon” sits inside “cochons”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cochon is recorded at frequency rank #7,800, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ʃɔ̃\. cochons is at rank #11,732, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ʃɔ̃\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 19532, this pair ranks #372,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cochon vs cochons
Shared letters: chno. Private to "cochon": -. Private to "cochons": s.
"cochon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cochons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cochon" and "cochons" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cochon" or "cochons" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "cochon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cochons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cochon" and "cochons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cochons vs cotons". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #372,800 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.